


Wingless

by MegumitheGreat



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comatose Cloud, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mako Poisoning (Compilation of FFVII), No Plot/Plotless, Self-Indulgent, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24337234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegumitheGreat/pseuds/MegumitheGreat
Summary: Zack and Cloud hide in a cave.
Relationships: Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Comments: 6
Kudos: 94





	Wingless

**Author's Note:**

> Purely self-indulgent--I love thinking of Zack taking care of Cloud and protecting him.

Hugging one of the pillows on the bed, Cloud stared at Zack with dreamy eyes. Likewise, propping his head up on one arm, Zack watched over his subordinate with a smile that showed pride and adoration. Everyone knew that the tiny infantryman admired SOLDIERs, but he had taken a special liking to the raven-haired puppy, and Zack was as flattered as he was just into him. They were so similar, and Cloud felt like he belonged there when he was with Zack. Even now as they just lay next to each other, he felt like he was back home.

Cloud was dozing off when Zack lightly, gently stroked his cheek. It was another quality of their relationship—friendship to the others at Shin-Ra, love between them. They didn’t have to say much about each other to each other. It was like the lights of their heart shone brightest despite Cloud being an anxious mess and Zack being…Zack. He glided his hand down his cheek to his shoulder, down his arm, and to his hand. How could he have found someone so innocent and precious? He could have lay there for all eternity if it meant he could watch him sleep…

Even as he watched him soaked in mako and completely separated from the waking world. Holding him in his arms as they waited in a small cave near Cosmo Canyon for the rain to stop, Zack wondered how they had ended up where they were. It was chilly, but it was nothing compared to the cold in Nibelheim, especially when they first felt the winter breeze on their skin. It was comforting in a way, however. Feeling that chill reminded them that they were alive.

Zack didn’t mind it much now. He was used to the warmth of the sun, but holding Cloud against his body, the ebb and flow of breath lifting and lowering that golden spiky head as gently as a baby was rocked by its mother, and the quietness of the Cosmo area made it feel like a never-ending dream. They were blissfully existing between the pages of history as enigmatic ghosts. It had been four years; people were sure that they had died along with everyone else in the incident. It wasn’t bad. They could take their time even while finding a doctor for Cloud.

Fingers burying into golden hair and intertwined with Cloud’s, Zack was glad to be with him instead of anyone else. It was terrible that of the two of them, Cloud had to suffer like this. Still, he believed that if he had been the one to be rendered unconscious by whatever was done to them, he couldn’t help but worry that Cloud wouldn’t have been able to survive. He was resilient, but to care for him and himself? It would have been too much to ask of him. After all, he had lost what little family he had left—that was why Zack had decided to become his family.

He would love him dearly. He would bathe him and feed him as best as he could. There were sometimes that Zack thought about where trying to get him to eat was challenging not because he was unresponsive but because he was frightened that he could choke. Watering him was just as nerve-wracking. He had had survival training, though. It was hard without the proper supplies, but he always made sure to purify any water they came across in the wild. Before they had left Nibelheim, he had packed a couple cups and a kettle to boil water. It wasn’t much, but it was the one way they could ensure to have clean water to drink and wash.

Mako poisoning was a nasty condition, though. As he sat there in the cave with Cloud, he lived in anticipation that his body would react negatively again to the chemicals. There had been times that Cloud spit up whatever food was ingested simply as a reaction of his body not being fed for so long. How had they kept them alive without proper nutrition? He had no memory of any time before he escaped.

Regardless of what had happened, Zack always cleaned the infantryman up if he couldn’t stomach food. Sometimes he wondered if Cloud was able to sense the world around him, if he could see Zack take care of him, and if he ever felt bad that there were things that he couldn’t control anymore. He wondered if he would apologize for being difficult, only for Zack to try to tell him that he was okay. It wasn’t his fault. Things were different and difficult. He could never be mad at him for anything. Zack took care of him out of sheer goodness and affection.

The mist of the rain was collecting Cloud’s face, which Zack wiped it away. “In any other circumstance, this would be nice, right?” Zack gently spoke to him. “Man, if only we could have a blanket and a hot drink…Maybe we should try to head to an inn somewhere and get some. We don’t have money, though. And I doubt they would let us stay for free even with you like this. Well, it’s more fun to tough it out together! We’re besties for life, right, Cloud? Best friends in everything—this moment, this life…no, I should say it. We’re together forever. Once we make it back to Midgar, let’s make it official! If they haven’t already made up some death certificates for us, maybe I can tap into my savings and get us a pair of rings…hmm, or maybe it would be better to improvise.” He held him closer. “We both wear earrings, so maybe we can have our own ceremony like that? What do you think? ‘It would be better to do earrings, but they should be special.’ Cloud…well, we aren’t too far from Cosmo Canyon. I bet they have some really nice handmade ones! ‘Handmade earrings would be cool!’ Wouldn’t they be? Ah, we’ll need to clean our holes—can you imagine the gunk that’s in them now? No proper showers…no earring cleaning kits…it’s a hard life, you know?”

As much as Zack enjoyed talking to him like that and pretending to give Cloud the voice he no longer had, there were times that his heart hurt. He wanted to hear his voice so desperately just to know for sure that he was okay. The little noises and grunts that the infantryman managed to give wasn’t enough. He couldn’t stand not being able to hear him laugh and cry and talk normally to him. He hugged him tightly, burying his face into his shoulder and pleading that he wake up soon and in as good of health as possible.

This wasn’t the only time he cried for him. Cloud’s condition seemed to worsen more often than not, lending his mind to fall apart just enough for his body to tense under his touch as there was just the slightest indicator that he was seizing. Zack lay him on the ground on his side in case he spit up again holding his hand tight, lowering his head to his trembling chest, and praying fervently to be okay. When the seizure passed, Zack wiped his mouth clean with a small rag torn from part of his clothes before kissing his head.

“You made it through it again, Cloud…!” he always tried to say happily. “I’m so proud of you.” Cradling his upper half like a baby, he held him close and rocked him as best as he could. “You’re going to pull through, got it? I’ll make sure you do. No matter what, I’ll stay with you. When you wake up, I’ll be right by your side.” Cloud’s eyes stared past him, sky-blue glowing green. Those eyes reminded him about the wings he wished he could have and of the den of monsters that was Shin-Ra. “Hey, Cloud, do you ever wish you could just fly away from everything? The wings of an angel…I wish we had them. Would be way better than being wingless, helpless in a world that believes we’re dead and gone. I wonder, could we make our own?”

Cloud sputtered from spit-up again, though it was mostly saliva and bile this time. The rain was easing up outside. They needed food and water. Zack picked Cloud up in his arms. Even though it hadn’t stopped, he couldn’t keep him waiting. Food, water, a bath, hopefully a bed somewhere—Zack was hell-bent on providing him as much comfort as they could manage with what little money they had.

**Author's Note:**

> It meanders, but I'm getting to this point in Crisis Core again...and I'm just trying to prepare myself for the heartache.


End file.
